Method of steaming fabrics



June 29, 1937.

LJ.KOCH

METHOD OF STEAMING FABRICS Filed April 15, 1935 I5 Sheets-Sheet 1 [William fifOCh,

-Q EE iZAJ LAQ' ATTORNEY.

June 29, 1937. w, KOCH 2,085,222

METHOD OF STEAMING FABRICS Filed April 15, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR, ZZz'am JT/fdc h ATTORNEY.

' June 29, 1937. w. J. KOCH METHOD OF STEAMING FABRICS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 15, 1955 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented June 29, 1937 FATE.

METHOD OF STEAMING FABRICS Application April 15,

6 Claims.

In What are known in the art of steaming fibrous fabrics as decating machines. the fabric is wound with a blanket or mantle on a peripherally perforated hollow drum, both the fabric and blanket being of course fiuid-pervious; steam is admitted to the drum and hence to the wound mass; then, the steam being cut off, vacuum is applied to the drum to cause atmospheric air to be drawn through the mass in the effort to remove the condensate therefrom or so far as possible dry the fabric and blanket and also cool them; and finally the fabric and blanket are unwound from thedrum and wound on respective receiving elements therefor, as beams. When this treatment is repeatedly performed, as on a succession of fabrics, the blanket (which is usually about inch thick) becomes in time so heavily laden with moisture of condensation that notwithstanding the vacuum action the treatments cannot follow each other in the practically uninterrupted succession which means the maximum possible output without likelihood of moisture retained in the blanket harming the product, to wit, when each freshly introduced fabric is wound up with the blanket on the drum preparatory to steaming. In short, if it is desired to treat fabrics one after another without loss of time the operator must at present accept the hazard that'the fabrics will be harmed.

In practice, of the whole time devoted to each fabric only approximately one-third is taken up with the actual steaming and vacuumizing, the remaining two-thirds interval being occupied in loading, or forming the wound fabric-and-blanket mass, on the drum, removing the fabric and blanket from the drum after the steaming and vacuurnizing and winding them on their receiving beams or equivalent elements, removing the beam wound with the treated fabric, and placing in the machine a beam wound with the next fabric to be treated.

It has been proposed to dry the blanket by merely causing itto travel past a heating medium, aswhen it is being wound up with the blanket onto the drum. But, since the blanket in time becomes quite thoroughly saturated with the moisture, an actually effective drying in this way, or with mere heat and progressively with respect to a travelling stretch of the blanket, requires the speed of the blanket to be so slow that in point of time and hence of output there is actually a great loss; truly effective economy in these respects means that the blanket should travel at its highest practicable speed, and if this 55 is done then, once well moistened, it remains con- 1935, Serial No. 16,416

tinually moistened notwithstanding any eiiort to dry it in this way.

According to this invention a complete drying can in practice be effected after each steaming because the drying is eifected by resort to vacuum and with respect to the blanket as it exists in a wound mass on its receiving element and in a time-interval which is adequate for such complete drying, to wit, within that interval which may begin as late as when the blanket and one fabric have been unwound from the drum and which may end when the blanket and next fabric have been completely wound on the drum preparatory to the steaming and vacuumizing there- 15 of.

In these machines, as regards the drum and blanket-receiving element, when the winding of either with the blanket is checked it is desirable to brake the other sothat the latter will not overrun and cause undue slack in the blanket, wherefore the invention further contemplates novel means for efiecting the winding motion of either and the braking of the other of these elements.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a machine embod ying and by which this invention is performed;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal section of the drum 2 thereof;

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the drum I8 with the axial core thereof in elevation;

Fig. 4 is an elevation, as seen in Fig. l and on a larger scale, of the means for effecting the winding and braking of the drums, upper and lower portions appearing in partial section in vertical planes respectively through an upper slot 50 and a lower slot 46a of the slide i;

Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal substantially central section of what is shown in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is an elevation of said slide 46.

In the frame I is journaled the mentioned drum 2 on which a fabric and the blanket are wound for the steaming, one of its bearing trunnions 3 being tubular. The drum has the usual construction, to wit: Its cylindrical wall is circumferentially foraminous, here perforated (indicated only in Fig. 2 and in one diameter) and the perforations are fitted with inwardly projecting tubes 4 having their inner ends bent off so that condensation accumulating in the drum shall not escape at the perforations happening to be at the bottom. It contains an axial tubular perforated core 5. Its end shown in Fig. 2 is enlarged to form an interior circumferential channel 6, and in this channel are arranged the enlarged mouths or buckets I of curved water conductors 8 merging together in an axial tube 9, the buckets being all open in the direction the same as that in which the drum rotates to deliver the wound mass formed thereon. Steam from a pipe I ll, discharg' ing into the connection il, in turn discharging into core 5 and filling the drum, will escape via the tubes i and hence through the wound fabric-and-blanket mass to the atmosphere, any condensation forming and collecting at the bottom being prevented from reaching such mass by the tubes; when the steaming of said mass has been effected vacuum applied to connection i i, as by a pump l2 (driven by an electric motor I3), whose suction side is connected with said connection by a pipe i l and its branch Ma will cause atmospheric air to be drawn through said mass and the drum, and in the unwinding of the mass from the drum such condensation as tends to collect, finding its way to the channel 6, is taken up the buckets and discharged by pipe 3 into said connection and hence towardthe pump.

The fabric a comes to the machine wound on a beam i5 whose trunnions are supported in suit able bearings it of the frame i. When, with the blanket b, it is wound on the drum it extends trained around suitable guides l1 and then, with the blanket, between a nip roller Ila. and the drum. The blanket, 1), extends from its rotary receiving element or a smaller drum [8 journaled in the frame around a guide i9 and a set of guides 28 and between the nip roller and the fabric. When the unwinding of the wound mass on the drum 2 is effected an empty beam, as 2 i, has its trunnions made to rest on arms 22, which are swung up to the inclined position shown in Fig. 1 for this purpose, and rests itself against the rotating nip roller l'ia, being frictionally rotated thereby.

Now according to my invention the smaller drum l8 (see Fig. 3) is hollow and formed circumferentially foraminous, here with perforations 53a (indicated in only one diameter and partially in this figure), and it has a tubular core or axial portion 4312 which is likewise perforated, the end of such core protruding. Said core has its protruding end connected (as by a suitable gland, not shown) with a branch Hlb of pipe M, the juncture of the branches Ma. and [4b and such pipe being a valve-chamber 23 containing a three-way valve 24 whose three ports are shown dotted in Fig. 1 at 26a. The stem of the valve has an arm which is connected by a link 25 with a lever 26 fulcrumed on an extension 23a of the valve chamber. In the position of the lever shown the pump is maintaining a vacuum in drum 2, drum it being cut off from the pump; movement of the lever to the left (dotted position) will cause the pump to maintain the vacuum in drum l3, drum 2 being cut off.

The operations are as follows: A beam i5 being placed in the machine and the free end of the fabric, wound thereon, placed between the drum 2 and the blanket (wound on drum H3 and left partially wound on drum 2), said drum 2 is driven to wind the fabric and blanket thereon. When the winding is completed steam is first admitted to said drum and hence passes through the fab ric-and-blanket mass; then the steam is out off and the lever 25 (which was maintaining the valve 24 in position to cause the vacuum to be active on drum i3) is shifted to the right to cause the vacuum to be active on drum 2 and hence on said mass, the flow of atmospheric air through the mass ridding it of moisture and cooling the mass. Drum i8 being now rotated to wind the blanket thereon, the fabric is Wound on the beam 2i due to the rotation of drum 2 incident to the pull of the blanket. Valve 24 may remain in its last-named position during this step in the operation or in fact until such unwinding has been completed, but usually by the time such unwinding has been completed it is shifted to the position for maintaining the vacuum on drum I8 and the wound blanket mass thereon and retained in that position until a fresh fabric, wound on a beam such as 85, has been placed in the machine and the re-winding of it and. the blanket on the drum and the ensuing steaming have been effected. In any event, since the steaming step is one requiring in practice not more than onethird of the whole time devoted to the sequence of operations beginning with the incorporation of a fabric in the machine and ending when the incorporation of the next fabric to be treated ensues, the remaining time interval is more than ample in the case of a blanket of the average thickness and compactness to effect its drying to such a degree that all danger of harming the fabric is completely avoided.

It should be borne in mind that what is ultimately sought by this invention is an increased output of fabrics treated without the incident of injury to the fabrics due to moisture retained in the blanket. Factors in the obtaining of these results by this invention are that the moisture in the blanket is actually dislodged by application of a vacuum to the blanket and rather to it when in the form of a wound mass than to it when travelling past a drying medium, as a vacuum source, so that such mass in situ is subjected to the drying action and the desired speed can be maintained as is not possible when a mere stretch of the blanket travels past a drying medium.

In those instances where the blanket may possibly be unusually thick or compact in texture the drum it may be housed in a chamber 21 having an opening 27a through which the blanket may travel and containing a steam coil 28 connected to the steam pipe M3 by a pipe 29. In such case,

the wound blanket mass exists in a heated body of atmospheric air and such heated air is drawn through the mass.

The prime mover for the drums is here an electric motor 3%. motor and contains the following mechanism: Journaled in the housing is a shaft 32 having a gear 33 fixed thereon. Parallel with this shaft and journaled in the housing is a shaft 34 having a gear 35 free to rotate thereon. Alined with shaft 32 is a shaft 36, journaled in the housing and in gear As for the unit (Figs. 4 and 5) now referred to the train comprising parts 32-33 and 35 may be regarded as its rotary input means and the parts 36 and 34 as distinct output means thereof respectively adapted to be driven by part 3233 and part 35 of the input means; shaft 32 may be connected in any way (not shown) with the motor shaft, as directly, whereas shafts M and 36 have sprocket-and-chain or equivalent connections 3? and 38 (Fig. 1) respectively with the drums 2 and I8. Output means 34 is adapted to be driven from its input means by a friction driving clutch 39 splined on shaft 34 and adapted to frictionally grip the gear 35 when a sleeve ll! on shaft 33 is shifted to the right. Output means 36 is similarly adapted to be driven from its input means by a friction driving clutch ti splined on shaft 36 and adapted to frictionally grip the gear 33 when a sleeve 42 A housing 3i adjoins the on shaft 36 is shifted to the right. Further, either output means may be braked as follows, to wit, output means 34 by a friction brake clutch 43 splined thereon when the sleeve 40 is moved to the left to cause said clutch frictionally to grip the wall Sla of the housing, and output means 36 by a friction brake clutch 44 splined thereon when the sleeve 42 is moved to the left to cause said clutch frictionally to grip said housing wall.

The purpose of the unit last described, it is in order here to say, is to prevent overrunning of that drum which is being pulled around by the other drum (acting through the blanket) when the rotation of the latter drum is checked. Incidentally, the brake shown at 45 in Fig. 1 is present to preserve tension on the blanket and hence compress the fabric between the windings or layers of the blanket when drum 2 is being loaded.

The shifting of the two sleeves is effected as follows: A plate 46, forming a slide, has straight vertical slots 46a receiving headed studs 41 projecting from bosses on the wall 3!?) of the housing, the slide being held in wiping contact with said bosses by the heads 47a of the studs. An arcuate yoke 48, embracing each sleeve 40 and 42 and pivoted at 49, has studs 48a engaged in the peripheral groove shown in each such sleeve and also a stud 48b engaged in a slot 50 of the slide. (As noted, portions of Fig. 4 are shown in section in vertical planes coincident respectively with the upper and lower slots 50 and 46a.) The slide may be shifted down or up by a controlling lever suitably fulcrumed in the frame and comprising a shaft 5!, a crank 52 thereon within the housing and having a slotand-pin connection 52a with the slide, and handles 53. The slots 50 are reverse counterparts of each other. From their mid-points r (Fig. 6) their relatively outer end portions 50a extend first straight and vertically and then bent off, their outer terminals being both in the same vertical line at one side of the vertical line of mid-points :c; from said mid-points at their relatively inner end portions 501) are bent, the apices of their bends being both in a vertical line at the opposite side of the vertical line of said midpoints and their terminals in the line of said mid-points.

When the controlling lever and hence the slide are in mid-position the mid-points a: coincide with the studs 48b, wherefore the sleeves are in mid-position and both friction and brake clutches are inactive. Movement of the lever to shift the slide down will set the driving clutch 39 (thus to drive shaft 34) and incidentally cause brake clutch 44 to temporarily brake shaft 36 and be then retracted; and movement of the lever to shift the slide up will set the driving clutch 4i (thus to drive shaft 36) and incidental- 1y cause brake clutch 43 to be temporarily positioned to brake shaft 34 and then retracted. Movement of the lever to shift the slide back to neutral position will in each case release the drive clutch which had been active and incidentally set the other or non-corresponding brake clutch temporarily and release the same. The setting of a brake clutch when the controlling lever is moved from neutral position has here no especial significance, since both drums are already at standstill; but the setting of a brake clutch when the controlling lever is moved to neutral position has this effect that, upon the power being out off from the drum last driven by the motor when the lever is so moved, a braking resistance is applied to the other drum, preventing it from overrunning and hence a slack being developed in the blanket.

Considering the mechanism with respect to the travel of the blanket in either direction, essentially it may be defined as including the following: A driven system itself including a pair of rotary elements (2 and i8) and a flexible connection (b) connecting them and wound on one and adapted to be wound up on the other element; a rotary driver from which to rotate the latter element in the direction to Wind said connection thereon (as its driver 32-33 or 35); a drive clutch (as 39 or 4|; corresponding to such driver) movable to intercouple the driver and said latter element for rotation together; a brake clutch movable to apply resistance to the first element (as 43 or 44 corresponding to such element), and means (as the plate or slide and the sleeves) movable to and from position (as from and to the. here, neutral position) to move the drive clutch to intercouple the driver and said latter element and during its own such movement (here both to and from said position) engageable with the brake clutch to move the latter to apply braking resistance to the firstnamed element.

Having thus fully described my what I claim is:

1. The hereindescribed method of treating fiuid-pervious fabrics in succession which consists in winding a fabric to be treated and a fluid-pervious blanket together into a composite fabric-and-blanket mass, subjecting such mass to steam, unwinding the fabric and blanket and Winding the blanket independently of the fabric into a wound mass, and subjecting the latter mass toa vacuum, and repeating the foregoing steps as to each succeeding fabric to be treated.

2. The hereindescribed method of treating fluid-pervious fabrics in succession which consists in winding a. fabric to be treated and a fiuid-pervious blanket together into a composite fabric-and-blanket mass, subjecting such mass tosteam, unwinding the fabric and blanket and winding the blanket independently of the fabric into awoundmass,and subjecting the latter mass to a vacuum, and repeating the foregoing steps as to each succeeding fabric to be treated, main taining the blanket mass subjected to the vacuum throughout substantially all of each period during which the blanket is wound with a fabric into a composite fabric-and-blanket mass.

3. The hereindescribed method of treating fiuid-pervious fabrics in succession which consists in winding a fabric to be treated and a fluid-pervious blanket together into a composite fabric-and-blanket mass, subjecting such mass to steam, unwinding the fabric and blanket and Winding the blanket independently of the fabric into a wound mass, and subjecting the latter mass while being formed to a vacuum, and repeating the foregoing steps as to each successive fabric to be treated.

4. The hereindescribed method of treating fluid-pervious: fabrics in succession which consists in winding a. fabric to be treated and a fluid-pervious blanket together into a composite fabric-and-blanket mass, subjecting such mass to steam, unwinding the fabric and blanket and winding the blanket independently of the fabric into a wound mass, and subjecting the latter mass to a vacuum and heat, and repeating the invention blanket is wound. with a fabric into a composite fabric-and-blanket mass.

6. The hereindescribed method of treating fluid-pervious fabrics in succession which consists in winding a fabric to be treated and a fluid-pervious blanket together into a composite fabric-and-blanket mass, subjecting such mass to steam, unwinding the fabric and blanket and winding the blanket independently of the fabric into a wound mass, and subjecting the latter 0 mass while being formed to a vacuum and heat, and repeating the foregoing steps as to each successive fabric to be treated.

WILLIAM J. KOCH. 

